Kentucky Teacher

In a special video edition of Commissioner’s Comments, Education Commissioner Terry Holliday welcomes Kentucky teachers back to school, and thanks them for their continued efforts to ensure students are college and career ready. He also offers encouragement to teachers as they await the release of K-PREP results in October.

(Note: Video plays in IE9 and Firefox. It also will play in Chrome using the following plug-in:  http://www.interoperabilitybridges.com/wmp-extension-for-chrome).

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Salyersville Grade School (Magoffin County) library media specialist Charlene Minix manually enters all of the donated book information into the computer catalog for the new library at the school. Photo by Amy Wallot, July 27, 2012

Salyersville Grade School (Magoffin County) library media specialist Charlene Minix said her library was arguably one of the best in the state a year ago.

“I truly believe I had the best 21st-century library in Kentucky,” she said. “I had everything. You name it.”

Now, Minix has about one-fourth the space she had before, one-third of the books and less than one-tenth of the technology.

Salyersville Grade School, along with nearby Harold Whitaker Middle School, was heavily damaged in the March tornados that ravaged several areas including eastern Kentucky.

Morgan County school district also had schools with heavy damage.

All of these schools, however, made the best of their respective situations last spring, finishing out the year with less than two weeks of closure following the devastation. But things won’t return to normal for many of them for years to come.

“This whole experience has been just overwhelming,” said Salyersville Grade School assistant principal Gary Helton. “You can’t put into words what we’ve been through.” Continue Reading

Derrick Graham taught social studies at Frankfort High School (Frankfort Independent) for 27 years. He recently retired from teaching, but is still serving District 57 as a state representative. Graham said balancing his teaching job and his state representative duties was one of his biggest challenges the last 10 years. Photo by Amy Wallot, Aug. 3, 2012

For the past ten years, Derrick Graham has led a double life of sorts, serving both as a full-time high school social studies teacher and an elected state representative.

The two roles are definitely not mutually exclusive. Graham says he has always been a student of politics and government, participating in political campaigns as early as his junior and senior years in high school.

He would come to share that love of government and politics with his students, teaching social studies at Frankfort High School (Frankfort Independent) for 27 years, until his retirement  at the end of this past school year. 

Graham, a graduate of Frankfort High, Kentucky State University and Ohio State University, was not just content to teach his students about politics and government. He also practiced it, campaigning and winning several elected positions, including his current one as state representative for District 57. The Frankfort Democrat is serving his fourth term.

During his time in the General Assembly, Graham has chaired the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Primary and Secondary Education. He’s also a member of several other legislative committees. Continue Reading

 By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Louisville Male High School (Jefferson County) teacher Jeff Wright experiments with building Knudsen pumps during the High School Teacher Fellowship Program at the University of Louisville.

Heather Packard spent four weeks of her summer vacation driving four hours a day to the University of Louisville.

What inspired the Bellevue High School (Bellevue Independent) biology, forensics and integrated science teacher to make the daily trek? Her desire to get hands-on experience working with nanotechnology.

“If I’m not continually learning personally, how can I take my students beyond what we’ve always done? Do I want to kind of change what I do in my classroom in theory, or do I want to be a better teacher because I am growing personally?” she asked. “I’m here because I like it. I want to continue to learn and I feel it makes me a better teacher. Even if I don’t take any techniques from that laboratory directly to my classroom, I can’t help but take the experience. Continuing to learn helps my students learn.” Continue Reading